A Light At The End Of The Tunnel
by frankthetiger
Summary: Voldemort finds Harry broken and abused at his relatives house. After being rescued certain secrets come to light. TMR/HP SB/SS LP/JP
1. I Didn't Know I Was Lonely Til I Saw You

**AN: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter, not me. Get it right people.**

PROLOGUE

This was not what he expected to find when he stormed the Potter boy's house. He assumed the child would be living with a loving family and treated like a prince, treated to his every whim for being the Boy Who Lived.

He did not expect to find a broken child laying in a heap on the floor, eyes full of pain and pleading for something he couldn't decipher. It might have been the simple request to just leave and forget about it all.

But Harry Potter knew why the Dark Lord was there, and the Boy Who Lived was begging his enemy for death. Just how Voldemort had imagined it.

In that one moment however, Tom Marvolo Riddle felt a rare burst of compassion and he did something unexpected: he lowered his wand. Potter was now visibly shocked and as Voldemort came closer he became worried. His injuries prevented him from struggling and the Dark Lord picked the small Chosen One up with ease.

Voldemort glided out to the main area of the muggle house where his followers were languidly torturing Harry's muggle relatives. As he entered the room his Death Eaters turned to stare at the sight. The women gasped and held back tears while the men gripped their wands tighter and continued attacking the muggles with renewed fervor.

Silently the Dark Lord cast a spell upon the bruised and bloody muggles and in a hoarse voice commanded his followers. "Those who wish to stay, keep them alive and bring them with you when you return. Also, if you wish, you may come with me. Severus, please." The Dark Lord glided out and most of the women and one professor Snape followed.

Back in the relative safety of his manor, Voldemort placed Harry in a disused room across from his. When Snape and the others arrived he left the boy to their care and snuck off to his study. He needed to rethink his life. A life without Harry Potter as his archenemy.

Safely seated in his smooth leather chair, Voldemort realized that it was indeed compassion that overtook him. A mere moment of weakness to save the boy from the same childhood he experienced.

He seemed to have many moments of weakness where Harry Potter was concerned. At the ministry he couldn't even go through with the possession of the boy. The memories of Harry's friends and happiness made him feel jealous, such a trivial emotion. He also couldn't bear to take it away. So he proceeded to leave the boy, but was prepared to get revenge this night.

Voldemort only hoped this weakness wouldn't lead to his demise like the first time…

**AN: Chapter title- I Wanna Get Better by The Bleachers**


	2. Where Will You Be Waking Up Tomorrow?

**AN:**

**Lauren Saint: Thank you! I have answered your pleas, here is some more!**

**GreenDrkness: No Remy bashing, he'll see the light... Maybe... and TOTS MPREG!**

CHAPTER ONE

The sunlight caressed upon the boy's cheek and as it grazed over his eyes Harry Potter struggled to open his groggy emeralds. He shielded his face from the light and as he did so, he realized that he was no longer in any pain. All the injuries he received all summer were magically gone. For indeed it was magic.

Turning over Harry felt a piece of paper crinkling beneath his forehead. Picking it up he recognized Snape's spiky handwriting so he sat up to read it.

_**Potter,**_

_**Ring this bell when you wake.**_

Upon finishing the note he watched it transform itself into a silver bell. Still slightly amazed with magic after five years, Harry's eyes lit up as it happened. After it passed he shook the bell.

And heard nothing.

Confusion soon turned to fear and he shook it more violently, looked inside to inspect the mechanics and found it in perfect working order, yet it made no noise. He now feared that he might possibly be deaf.

But the fear was soon dissuaded as he heard a sharp trill of bells coming from the doorway and saw Snape standing there holding a matching bell and an amused expression.

"Oh thank Merlin." Relief flooded his voice. "I thought I had gone deaf."

"I highly doubt that. The healing sleep I put you in would hardly allow that."

"Healing sleep?"

"Yes. Your injuries were far too extensive for normal healing methods so I had to use that charm. You've been asleep for a week now. I would presume you're in top shape because of it."

Harry then proceeded to stand and walk around the room. "Yeah, I feel better than I have in… forever!"

"Good. Now I must inform the Dark Lord that you're awake. Take this potion first, its just a nutrition supplement." After handing Harry the vial he exited the room with a swirl of black robes.

Harry stood there, frozen in his confusion. It wasn't Snape's friendly behavior that had him reeling, during their Occlumency lessons the two found understanding and a camaraderie formed between the two. What Harry couldn't understand was the fact that he was _alive_ much less being treated well. He could clearly remember Voldemort showing up at Privet Drive, and yet here is in a lavishly decorated room, not the stone dungeon he had come to expect. Through their tentative acquaintance, Harry could sense the Snape was all he appeared to be for Dumbledore, and while the forefront of his mind hated the man for it, a voice in the back of his head disagreed. Harry did listen to that voice every once in a while.

Before Harry could hurt himself from thinking too hard, a voice interrupted him.

"You're awake then. And healthy I presume?"

A gorgeous young man was in the room with him, and judging by the fact he felt no pain, Harry couldn't believe it was Voldemort – yet who else could it be? Then the wavy brown hair and deep grey eyes melted into a malevolent serpentine figure resulting in Harry's scar erupting with pain.

Snape walked in to see the Potter boy clutching his forehead and grunting in pain. "My Lord, if I may be so rude as to ask, what are you doing?"

"Nothing!" He snarled. "Its that scar of his, one I will say right now I did not give to him!"

"Yeah it just appeared on my forehead as you tried to kill me!" Harry yelled at the man through his pain. "Will you be still and stop switching forms!"

"Switching…what?" The Dark Lord was bewildered. Maybe the pain was finally getting to the boy's head. "I'm not doing anything Potter! And that is not a curse scar, you idiot. There has never been any recording of that happening. It's a compulsion mark, proof that your mind is not your own." Riddle sneered at him and walked to an armchair. "Severus check the boy for compulsions, glamours and other spells and such." He then sat down leisurely, knowing what was to come.

As Severus casted the requested spell, an alarming long list of compulsions and glamours appeared in the air. The color of the name of the spell correlated with the caster and all were a lilac except for one very light red. It was the first one.

"My Lord?" Prompted Severus.

The Dark Lord then stood and removed each of the lilac spells with practiced ease. Some of them he had removed from his own person. As the second to last compulsion was removed Harry's pain stopped and the scar disappeared into the flat expanse of pale skin, flat once more.

"A delusion, a mere idea someone implanted in your head. Someone has been manipulating you since day one, Harry. Shaping you into the perfect hero." Riddle told him quietly, slowly breaking Harry's image of the world piece by piece.

Beads of sweat were falling down the boy's face as he slowly started to sit up. "What? Who?" Harry's voice was nothing more than a rasp.

"Later. Now, this last one is a strong glamour Harry, to make you look like a different parent. Do you wish to remove it?"

"Yes... James... James Potter was not my father. I can see that now." Harry's eyes were bright like they'd never been before, like the world had been removed from his shoulders and set spinning in the right direction again. "I am nothing like him, despite what you think Snape." His demeanor was set with determination.

"After this you'll not be calling me that anymore." The Potions Master cut in with a shell shocked expression. "I can't believe it..." He whispered, trailing off at the end.

**AN: Terrible cliff hanger. Yay! See ya soon guys!**


	3. I See Right Through You

**AN: And we're here again, with more Cry in the background. Yay zombies!**

**DaughterOfHV: I'm hoping the mpreg will be realistic too... Hmm. Sorry. Totally changing his name. Why? Because he's NOT Harry anymore. This is a pretty generic plot, but y'know, oldies are goldies.**

**Anairafuji: Snape es el padre de Harry! ****Hope that is right… **

**Thanks guys for the reviews! If you have any advice, please hand em over!**

CHAPTER TWO: I See Right Through You

"What?" Harry was confused, so was Riddle, but all he had to show for it was a raised eyebrow. "What _will_ I call you then?"

"Can we get past the innuendoes and continue please?" Riddle was annoyed and after receiving nods of agreement from the others he deftly removed the glamour. Gone was Harry Potter, and in his place was a young man that was taller, lankier and had long straight black hair that reflected light as a blue color, similar to ink. As the Dark Lord looked over to Severus, it was like looking into a mirror image of the man, yet younger.

Startled, but not showing it Riddle kneeled down and brought Harry's face closer for inspection. The rounded cheeks and nose were gone, replaced by sharper cheekbones and a regal nose. The eyes were the same color, but his lips were redder yet thinner. Those emeralds were beautiful before, but in this face they were enticing and made it almost impossible to look away from. Yet the Dark Lord managed it and turned to look at his follower.

"He's clearly yours." Riddle's voice was almost mocking, but very curious.

"It was a mistake, just a one night stand, we were upset, James and Sirus they...and we...I don't even like women!" Snape desperately tried to explain.

"I'm not angry. Not at all, I like him much better this way." The Dark Lord's eyes lingered on the boy before looking back at Severus.

Snape's eyes quickly turned focused and cold at the motion, but he said nothing.

"You had drunken sex with my mom?" Harry spoke up, astonished and almost unbelieving.

"Yes. It was a few days before our... her wedding." The Slytherin answered darkly.

"Our? You said our." Harry's eyes gained a conniving glint in them

"I was to marry...someone that day. It was abruptly canceled." The man's voice and face betrayed none of the melancholy he felt, but his eyes were teeming with the sting of betrayal.

"What happened?"

"Lily and James resolved their problems and...well my partner and I like to hold grudges."

"Ah, the two of you, both estranged from your families yet trying to make it better by marrying in secret. How romantic, such a tragedy it didn't succeed." The Dark Lord interrupted cynically. "He's not really _dead_; you do realize this of course."

Severus became alert at the sentence. "Do not play with my, my Lord. I request this of you. We are both fragile when it comes to this topic."

The Slytherin heir turned to Harry and looked into the boy's innocent and wide eyes that he could help but want to break. But slowly, oh so gently, sweetly; not in this way. "I'll send Pettigrew to the ministry straight away. Maybe we can clear his name as well." Then the Dark Lord walked away.

Severus walked over to Harry, his _son_, and helped him stand. "You are to call me Father now, or something of that ilk; if you wish."

"Of course, it might take some getting used to, but...I like it." He was smiling, but it soon turned into a mischievous smirk. "I shall call you Father, and Sirius Dad."

The Slytherin was shocked that Harry was taking it in so well and so quickly; he was also very grateful for it.

"I thought I sensed some sexual tension between the two of you this past year, all that yelling and yet all you wanted was his ass."

Severus smacked his son upside the head lightly, admonishing him while looking slightly embarrassed. "Don't use that language, and don't expect anything to happen between Sirius and me. It's been many years; we're hardly going to get over our problems now."

"Whatever you say _Father_," Harry relished in his ability to use that patronymic. "Shall we go retrieve him?"

"Not we, I believe the Dark Lord has already gone alone."

"To the _Ministry_?" Harry was shocked. "He does realized he's _not_ infallible, yes? And that everyone at the ministry is looking for blood? _His _blood?"

"He has many ways of getting in, we would only be in his way. He will be successful, do not fret."

Harry hmm'ed and contemplated the Dark Lord's new and improved looks. "How long has he looked like…like…_that_?"

Severus raised an eyebrow but still answered anyway. "His previous appearance was a mistake by Wormtail, one that I rectified quite easily." The Potions Master thought for a minute then suddenly turned to his son. "You are a Prince now Harry. Yes, a Prince. That is my ancestral name, one that I refrain from using so that I may hide the power that comes with it. This is unnecessary for you. Currently you have no place in this war, and what you do with your life shall set the stage for future Princes. Will you take on this responsibility? Or do you still wish to be Harry Potter?"

Harry looked up with wide eyes. "No! I mean, no, not at all. I didn't like being Harry Potter before, and now that my mind is my own, I _really_ hate Harry Potter. The Boy-Who-Lived received too much unnecessary fame and gossip." He then looked up to his father with an endearing smile. "Taking on the mantle of my rightful ancestors sounds like a path I will gladly take, and this one shall be of my own volition."

"Then you need a better name then _Harry_," Severus let loose a slight sneer." He thought for a moment then chuckled slightly. "How about Emrys? Is that name agreeable?"

The Gryffindor looked at his father suspiciously. "What does it mean?"

"Nothing of importance. I'm just amused by how uncannily it fits you. Emrys Prince." The Slytherin showed a rare small smile.

"No." Severus' face fell slightly at the word. "Emrys _Severus_ Prince."

The newly anointed father's eyes lit up as he nodded. "As you wish. We'll have to draw up some documents to make it official…" He trailed off as the Dark Lord walked in with a weary Sirius Black hanging off of his shoulder.

"Sev…Sev'rus? Who, who is…?" And then the Gryffindor's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he promptly passed out.

Riddle grunted as he half dragged the passed out man to the rug in front of the fireplace where he rudely dropped him. "I'm quickly becoming tired of carrying around unconscious Gryffindors."

"I guess you're just our pack mule now." Emrys said with a smirk as he dropped on the couch in front of his godfather.

"My Lord," Severus interrupted before the man could respond. "I'm pleased to introduce Emrys Prince."

"Emrys?" The Dark Lord asked incredulously of his follower. "Now you're just making it worse. Oh don't look at me like that," Riddle said to the Potions Master's innocent expression. "I know you picked it out. I know _why_ you picked that name."

"It fits him," but the man's small smirk gave him away.

"Why does it bother you? He told me it doesn't mean anything." Emrys' suspicion was rising again.

"Emrys is the Welsh adaptation of the Merlin legend. He was the unifier of all magic, the most powerful of all wizards." Riddle explained causing Emrys to glare at his father, but he soon sat back and thought about it.

"Well, it bothers you and I do like it. Maybe one day I'll grow into it."

The Dark Lord snorted and turned to leave, but not before saying, "It won't be 'one day'."

Emrys and Severus were confused but they soon ignored it and continued to get to know one another better.

**AN: Soo.. Hey. **

**I just finished the Eragon series yesterday. Pretty much tore my heart out with that ending. I might just cry. Jokes. Anyhoo… Here's the chapter. Yeah. **

**Chapter Title: Cheap Sunglasses by RAC. Siriusly guys, listen to this song. Its like the best ever.**


	4. No Hope For The Weary

**AN: So, I'm back with goodies. Graduation is coming up and I have been forced to cram my butt off to get out of the failing range, also took me awhile because I only had documents that were partly completed on my computer at home and I never realized that I actually finished the last chapter! Took me a couple days. Anyways here are your notes:**

**GreenDrkness: Thank you! I admit I was going through my Merlin (the TV show) phase when I wrote this on paper last year. The father/son convos are actually hard for me, because I'm not sure how much of Snape's snark to keep.**

**Guest (one of many I'm sure, you know who you are): Lupin will be on Harry's side! I think...lemme find some plot bunnies...**

**Bashirisuku: I have no idea what you mean. **

**AugaLilly2.0/Megs: Heres a chapter!**

**fireycloud: I found it very hilarious as well. LOLs**

**Elfin69: You are always reviewing on everything! I very much appreciate it. Yay for Sirius! When Sirius died in OoP that was like the hugest tragedy of my childhood, I can't even watch/read it to this day without wanting to cry. (I can't even watch DHPII at all.) Anecdote over, that's why I always bring him back to life in my stories. Yes! Emrys has power! There will be a little powwow between our current characters soon..**

**So yeah! Thanks to all y'all that I didn't mention and all of you that fav'd or liked. Heres the story and guess who I have playing in the background? Pewdiepie! Yay! And some cinnamon hot cocoa! Yums.**

Chapter Four: No Hope For The Weary

He slowly started to wake up, but before he did Sirius Black remembered what let him here.

He was in the veil, waiting, not dead but waiting to be released. It was his worst nightmare and his solemn paradise; it was like being ripped apart by his very cells and then being laid to rest on a cloud. He had nothing to see, feel or think about and then it was a torrential assault of all the senses. All he wanted was to see was his precious godson, and at other times he never wanted to leave. It felt as if he was being pulled into two directions.

Then he was actually being jerked and found himself on that dreaded floor in the Department of Mysteries looking up at a man he didn't recognize. The man told him he was taking him to Harry, and proceeded to apparate them right out of the Ministry and landed outside of a house that looked dilapidated until he got a few feet closer and it proved itself to be an elaborate mansion of any king. The man dragged him along to the house and eventually to a room where he saw Snape – Severus? – Greasy Bat? – who knew? – a teenage boy, but no Harry.

Sirius then remembered that the boy possessed and eerie resemblance to Snape. He jerked to awareness and found himself in front of the roaring fireplace in the same room as before. He struggled to stand on legs that had long since and any use yet when he did, he was rewarded. He looked upon Snape, no – Sev, the man he had loved so long ago and yet felt no anger. He saw the young boy resting his head on the Potions Master's lap yet paid no attention to him, not when these conflicting emotions were causing warfare in his mind.

For the first time in seventeen years he didn't feel that wave of anger and resentment that always welled within him whenever the Slytherin was near. The same wave that overshadowed his judgment and his love and caused him to act irrationally; it was the same exact one that reared its head on the fateful night of his disappearance, fierce barrage of spite and hate of the man in his fireplace, and as well as a fierce desire to make him _proud_.

In this moment as he gazed upon this man he only felt a gentle wind of regret and remorse. As something wet trickle down his cheek, the proud Sirius Black realized he was crying.

He stopped the tear in its tracks and looked at it as it dangled precariously from his fingertip. "Why?" His voice cracked from disuse, and he coughed pathetically. "I mean, why? I – I was – anger – just _so _angry – and, and at _you_, I just . . . " He trailed off with a barely audible wimper.

"Compulsion charms, Black. You were forced to feel that way." Snape finally spoke up after listening to the weak barrage of litany from this weak man in front of him, using it as a balm for my wounded soul.

"Compulsion . . . It had . . . Who?"

A sharp retort. "Later"

Suddenly Sirius remembered who he was talking with and put up his metaphorical walls, became closed off and cold. They were practically a picture of miscommunication. "Alright then. How 'bout a different who – who is this?" He said pointing at the unaware Emrys. "A relative?"

Severus recognized the mask Sirius put up. It was one to match his and it never failed to make him wish that he was different. That he wasn't so cold-hearted. Then Severus would attend a Death Eater gathering, or confer with Dumbledore and then he remembered _exactly _why he was who he was. "This is Emrys Severus Snape." He looked up at the Gryffindor with cold eyes that embarked a challenge. "My son."

Sirius struggled to keep his mask, he was not as practiced as some, a slight widening of the eyes was the only indication of his surprise. "Your, your son. Um, who's the, who's the other – other – " Sirius struggled to say the painful words.

"Lily." Was Severus' simple answer.

" . . . Lily . . . ?"

"Yes."

"She only had one kid – Harry." Sirius' obstinate side was appearing.

"Yes. Yes she did." Then he gently shook Emrys to wake him up.

The boy opened his eyes blearily and glanced upon the sorely missed face of his godfather first. "Hello Padfoot." Emrys tried to convey all the love he felt for the man in those two words.

**AN: MAN! I seriously hope you guys like this chapter! I feel like I put a piece of my **_**soul**_** into it, especially with Sirius. Wow... I surprised myself, maybe even scared. Wow. Anyhoooo, stick around for the next chapter maybe within the next week or so. **

**Chapter Title: No Rest For the Wicked by Lykke Li. I very much enjoy this song. You guys should as well. **

**xoxoxo Ciao lovelies.**


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